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Moss and Stone Gardens is a specialty landscape company and moss cultivation nursery located in Raleigh, North Carolina. We do not have a public facility for retail sales. We are available for consultation at your location and offer our mosses and products from our online store.

Hi Kelly, So sorry for any inconvenienced. If you signed up on our website at http://www.mossandstonegardens.com, then you are in the system and we will soon be getting in touch. Martha was great, but we are here to serve YOU. We will be in touch soon. Thanks, Helen

We love, love, love moss…I live in Wake Forest and would love to surprise my dearest friend with a container class for her birthday next month, November.
We both dabble in moss in our gardens but would love to learn so much more from you, the experts.
Are there any classes available to a couple of gals? or is there any classes upcoming to sign up for? Another option… is there a chance to tour your gardens as a surprise to her?
This would me the world to me to surprise her as she gave me the ultimate surprise on my birthday and took me horse back riding.

Hey Mary, we are planning on having an open house next spring, if you sign up for our newsletter, you will be notified of the date. The only workshop scheduled, so far, for this area next year is At the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in January of 2012.
I believe you can go to gardens.duke.edu and sign up for that class. There is also a presentation on moss gardening available on a different day. I do not think these classes are listed on their calendar yet, but you may contact them to see when registration opens.
Best,
David Spain

For the past 6 years I have been slowly replacing my grass lawn by encouraging the native mosses in my yard to grow. I have successfully replaced about 75% of my lawn with a lush moss carpet. Unfortunately, I’ve began to notice that the oldest mosses have grown so thick (about 3-4″ deep) that they’re starting to die off. Not only do they appear to be suffocating their own annual new growth, but they’re no longer established or attached to the soil (I can lift the moss up like sod). I fear that I may have to tear out this moss and start all over – are there any better solutions?

Jesha, congratulations on your lawn conversion! Mature moss colonies continue to gain in thickness as you described. This is natural and self limiting as the older growth becomes smothered and breaks down, creating soil. When large areas are carpeted, the colonies no longer have access to new territory to spread into, it is the growing edge that has access to soils where rhizomes can attach. Instead, the colony attaches to itself and forms this mat, even though direct attachment to the soil isn’t possible, the interconnected mosses hold together and gravity does the rest. This fact should not be a concern unless animals or some other disturbance is causing dislocation. You can thin the mosses out to encourage new attachment by pulling up a section, removing some of the under-layer and stretching the colony out, as though you were going to pull it apart but stopping before it tears completely. This is the same technique to harvest mature colonies and transplant them to new areas, only in this case you can put them back in the same place. Another technique is to pull a 4 to 6 inch section out with your hands, exposing the soil beneath, then pull the edges of the moss left behind to partially cover the bare area. Water the area well and walk the feathered moss down to make good contact with the soil. New rhizomes will form and the bare spot will regenerate quickly. If done properly, you may not even notice this was done.

As for the mosses starting to die off or the new growth suffocating, that is a different matter. Mosses continually regenerate adding new growth to old, new shoots should not be effected by the previous generations in an adverse way, this is the natural course for acrocarpous and pleurocarpous mosses alike. Instead I might suggest a different take. When we create a somewhat unnatural growth of mosses by removing normal competition and promoting an homogeneous carpet, we are also changing the natural cycle. A different approach is to introduce more than one species for a mixed moss lawn. For instance, Thuidium delecatulum can be mixed with Hypnum cuppressiforme of Plagiomnium cuspidatum. Each species will wax and wain at different times of the year, but one will always be thriving. This blending has proven to be the most resilient over the years and offers advantages that a single species cannot. Try introducing some different moss species and see if that doesn’t help with the problem.

I just had a question about activated charcoal. I want to grow a moss garden of terrariums inside (also aware that they need to have outside time too.) But is activated charcoal only used for closed terrariums? Would adding it to open terrariums help them flourish? What is activated charcoal used for? Any tips on what kinds of soil to use? Or can I just use good ole’ dirt from outside anywhere?
Newbie TB

Activated charcoal is used to keep trapped moisture fresh. Activated charcoal is available from aquarium stores and must be rinsed well before using. Use a well draining soil like mixtures sold for cactus and succulents if mixing with other plants, otherwise good ole’ dirt will work. ~David

can i successfully plant moss in a zone 8 where i will be unable to water? I leave 1.5 hours north west of houston. I want to create a woodland garden near our seasonal ravine. I have no water as my house is too far.